EU envoys agreed on Wednesday to extend emergency border controls inside the bloc’s free-travel zone for another three months to mid-May.

The Schengen zone of open borders collapsed as about 1.5 million refugees and migrants arrived in the bloc in 2015 and 2016, leaving the EU scrambling to ensure security and provide for the people. Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Norway started imposing the emergency border controls from September, 2015, and got the go-ahead on Wednesday to keep them in place for longer. Germany is all but certain to seek further extensions beyond that in the build-up to September 24 national elections.